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Welcome back to Off the Shelf, a monthly tasting menu of everything literary the Winning Edits team has been devouring!

In this column, I take you on a literary–culinary tour of the Winning Edits team’s bookshelves.

This month, we explore the books we grew up with. But these are books that didn’t just accompany us on our journeys into adolescence and adulthood. They’re books that took us by the hand—that grew us up in some way—books that showed us what was possible, expanded our imaginations, and left an indelible imprint.

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On Season 2, Episode 10 of Hyperlink Radio, it’s Part 2 of our two-part special on climate change. Host David Grabowski walks us through the underlying issues of the climate change crisis. To get to the bottom of things, David is joined by Dan Kahan—the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Law & Professor of Psychology at Yale Law School and head of the Cultural Cognition Project. Much of Dan’s research has focused on the political polarization around climate change and getting to the root of why it exists. The answers will probably surprise you.

David also chats with Valerie Bane—she’s the Chapter Leader for the Sacramento Chapter of Citizen’s Climate Lobby, a nonpartisan group that advocates for political climate action through a measure called Carbon Fee and Dividend. Valerie explains what that is and why it might be the best bipartisan solution for lowering emissions in America.

The movement to fight climate change may be the most important period in human history. If you’re a concerned citizen, this is the episode for you! (Don’t miss out on Part 1 if you haven’t heard it yet.)

Links/Resources

Link of the Week

DrawDown.org is the most comprehensive plan to reverse global warming that’s ever been assembled—100 ways to completely reconfigure our world in the process. If you’re looking to be inspired, if you want to know what macro-scale actions we can take as a world to reverse the crisis, this is the site for you. The list ranges from Refrigerant Management to Solar Farms, in categories like Electricity Generation, Land Use, Food, and even a category on Women and Girls—how sexual equality and education can have an important impact on global warming solutions. The site also leads to a book by the same name, a New York Times bestseller edited by Paul Hawken. Looking for solutions to global warming? Here’s 100.

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On Season 2, Episode 9 of Hyperlink Radio, Non Wels interviews Out of Print Co-Founder Todd Lawton about the transformative, magical world of books. Out of Print celebrates this literary magic, supporting literacy in the process. Non and Todd talk about the origin story of Out of Print: How a passion for books turned into a successful, mission-driven brand. Through the conversation, Todd describes how Out of Print wears its love of books on its sleeve while sparking social progress.

If you’re a bibliophile then you’re in good company! The story of Out of Print is a critical example of how a brand can celebrate its passion while also bettering the world around it. This is what happens when book nerds start a business, and the result is pretty awesome.

If you know anything about the Winning Edits team, it’s that we love our media—and we love sharing it with each other, and with our audience too. After all, crafting amazing content experiences for our clients is what we do, and being inspired by awesome media helps provide the creative spark that keeps those content experiences fresh and compelling.

Whether it’s our monthly Off the Shelf column, in which we share the best books and articles we’ve been poring over, or Season 2, Episode 7 of the Hyperlink Podcast, where we dive into a selection of incredible TV shows, podcasts, and other media that’s been tickling our fancy as of late, it seems like we’re never short of great media inspiration.

This week, we’re keeping the media recs coming with a few more items that are just burning a hole in our brains. Without further ado, we hope you’ll find something to be inspired by here—in fact, we’re pretty sure you will.

Music That Inspires

Revival by Eminem

Heard by Matt Gartland, CEO at Winning EditsEminem’s ninth LP, Revival, is a masterfully composed collection of songs that explore a side of the often poetic, often profane artist we might have not seen before: unbracingly wholehearted and emotionally poignant vulnerability. Juxtaposed with patented rhythmic wit, Revival is an album to be inspired by.For your earholes: Revival.Eminem.com

“Tonya Harding” by Sufjan Stevens

Heard by Ray Sylvester, Editor at Winning EditsSufjan Stevens sees beauty in the places we don’t often look, or are too afraid to look. In the song “Tonya Harding,” Stevens crafts a portrait of heartbreak through a sympathetic lens. “It’s utterly beautiful,” says Sylvester. And it really, truly is. If you listen while you ice skate, you get bonus points.For your earholes: Sufjan.com

Desert Island Reads

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Read by David Grabowski, Production Editor at Winning EditsSix stories spanning time, space, and genre about six people who are reincarnations of the same soul. That’s the basic conceit of Cloud Atlas, a novel that explores the universality of human nature. “It’s a reminder that a single lifetime is really just a blink,” says Grabowski. “There will be more stories after me—which I think would be a nice reminder if I were actually stuck on a desert island.”For your eyeballs: DavidMitchellBooks.com

The Mothers by Brit Bennett

Read by Sara Jane Hess, Production Designer at Winning EditsDebut novelist Brit Bennett intricately weaves a tale of mystery, love, and the connections we so earnestly seek. “The development of the three main characters as they move through life and make hard decisions, experience profound losses, and work to understand themselves is a quiet but formidable force,” says Hess, who is a quiet but formidable force for us at Winning Edits.For your eyeballs: BritBennett.com

TV & Film That Reveals New Perspectives

The Good Place

Watched by Mindy Holahan Peters, Senior Web Producer at Winning EditsOne of the funniest shows on television without a doubt. Plus, at its core, it’s about what it really means to be a good human, religion and philosophy and cultural norms aside. “The Good Place uses a sitcom to present topics in moral philosophy (and to remind me why one philosophy college course was more than enough),” muses Holahan Peters. A perspective that is needed now more than ever.For your eyeballs: Hulu.com

The Crown

Seen by David GrabowskiThe best stories are ones that evoke introspection and thought, that create space for deep levels of empathy, that remind us of the resiliency and beauty of humankind. “What the show does best is to identify the primary struggle of Queen Elizabeth II: remaining relevant in a fast-changing, modern world,” comments Grabowski. “I felt a sense of sadness watching this old and venerable institution falter and struggle as the young queen tries to hold her head up through marital and familial strife and national crises.”For your eyeballs: Netflix.com

Get Out

Seen byRay SylvesterPart horror, part psychological thriller, and whole commentary on how truly grotesque we can be. Get Out is as justified and beautiful as it is terrifying. “I hope more movies like this one keep being made that encourage us to pull down our blinders about race and racism in America,” says Sylvester.For your eyeballs: iTunes

Podcasts in Our Craw

Airplane Mode by Away

Heard by Non Wels, Integrated Solutions at Winning EditsWhy do we travel? To explore new places? For the new perspectives? Because we just can’t get enough of that fresh airplane cabin air? Airplane Mode by Away answers these questions (well, some of them anyway). We all travel. And in our travels, we choose to experience new cultures and ideas. Airplane Mode is a podcast that explores these universal stories.For your earholes: AwayTravel.com/airplanemode

You, Me, Empathy

Heard by Matt GartlandA new podcast, created by one of our own: Non Wels. You, Me, Empathy is about exploring our mental health struggles and creating a safe, judgment-free space to embrace vulnerability and empathy with each other. That’s how we learn. That’s how we grow. That’s how we connect.For your earholes: YouMeEmpathy.com

Cozy-Day Activities

Spinning and Perusing

Cozied up to Sara Jane Hess“I love to spin either of Michael Kiwanuka’s records (Home Again or Love & Hate) and read Monocle magazine,” says Hess. Listening to records. Reading up on current affairs. Sara Jane is in the running for Winning Edits’ resident Wes Anderson character.For your cozy days: MichaelKiwanuka.com and Monocle.com

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On Season 2, Episode 8 of Hyperlink Radio, Ray Sylvester brings us up to speed on the ongoing battle for a free internet—the fight for net neutrality. In December of 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) put the kibosh on a two and a half year experiment in net neutrality. But that’s not the end of the story, urges Ray: The battleground of this debate has shifted wide open. The fate of net neutrality is still undecided. What happens next?

A survey by the University of Maryland right around the time of the FCC decision found that 83 percent of Americans support net neutrality. In January, more than twenty states and the District of Columbia sued to try to block the FCC’s decision. As of March, twelve lawsuits had been filed by more than three dozen entities. A consolidated lawsuit will be heard at a federal appeals court in California.

Links/Resources

Link of the Week

Ray’s recommending a map this week, and not just any old map—this is a map of the world, except each country is labeled with the literal translation of its name. Created by Australian company Credit Card Compare, some of Ray’s favorite translations include “In the Navel of the Moon” (Mexico), “Where the Land Ends” (Chile), and “River of Rivers” (Niger). We hope they offer a print version of this map soon—we’d certainly buy it! Check it out right here.

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On Season 2, Episode 7 of Hyperlink Radio, Non Wels sits down with fellow teammates, Sara Jane, Mindy Holahan Peters, and David Grabowski to talk about some of our favorite recent podcasts we’re listening to, books we’re reading, and music we’re jamming to. It’s another iteration of Earholes and Eyeballs on Hyperlink Radio!

In this episode, in addition to what’s keeping our eyes and earholes happy, we also take a moment and remind ourselves of the things in our lives that inspire each of us, and the small, sometimes unforeseen joys we take for granted in our daily lives.

Link of the Week

For this week’s Link of the Week, Non recommends you check out the stunning music of David Grabowski—friend, Winning Edits teammate, and guest of this episode of Hyperlink Radio! David composes beautiful music for film, podcasts, concert, and more. You can learn more about David and his music on his website at DavidGrabowski.com. You’ll be happy with your decision to click through!